Treasure in the Jungle

This incident was  reported from  the remote dry zone regions of Sri Lanka, where thick scrub jungles hide ancient temples and lost treasures of great kings of the past . A gypsy fortune teller in the village was well-known for her accuracy in her psychic abilities and her spells and charms cured the sick. She had sharp  and  enigmatic features in a sensitive face. Even though she was successful and well known as an accurate fortune teller and respected in her area she was not satisfied by the little payments that villagers made to her wealth, although quite some amount had  accumulated. She had the blood of foreign wanderers mixed with a gypsy heritage and  her ambition was to get out of this village,  and live a life of luxury. This was  clearly limited by the returns she made out of this humble fortune telling.  The  more she thought about such a different  life, the more she wanted to get away somehow. 

Her background in the realm of charms and spells and various rituals gave her an excellent insight into the  various myths and legends that governed that region . One such legend that interested her very much was the one of the buried sacred treasure (“nidan”)hidden in the depths of the jungle that surrounded her village. according to legend, only a true sorcerer would know the exact ritual that was necessary to expose the treasure. Her books and ancient scrolls gave enough knowledge to do exactly that. The scrolls spoke of a sacrifice that when offered to the entity  who watched over the treasure, released the treasure to the sorcerer. Without the sacrifice, whoever disturbed the treasure would be cursed to a slow and miserable demise.

The gypsy woman planned on trying her luck with the hidden treasure. Her advantage being that she was the only person who knew about this. But of course, as with most rituals, she would need help in setting up the operation. Her immediate choice for this was her assistant. Her assistant was a village lad in his early -20s who because of his orphaned status owed everything to the gypsy woman who brought him up. His loyalty was bound to her in words and deeds and this comforted her in this top-secret operation.

To her dismay she found that the assistance from her helper was not enough. She needed additional reinforcements which she then had to get from a distant region in Matara. The persons she then sent out for included a person of equal status in a similar calling . The ‘kattadiya’ and his son arrived a few weeks before the ritual was about to happen.  The kattadiyas would receive  one third of the treasure once they found it.

On the day of the ritual, the ingredients or in this case the necessary items for the ceremony were assembled in front of the rock which was marked in the scrolls. The ingredients ranged from incense sticks to flowers to fruits. And the most important ingredient was the living  sacrifice. The sacrifice was of a goat and a chicken.  Meat  is one of the many offerings ceremoniously given to the spirits. Part of ritual is building a relationship with the spirit. This relationship does not happen overnight, and involves exploration and trust. During ceremony, the party uses drumming, singing and praying lead to build an very tense atmosphere.

According to Sri Lankan folklore, the treasure of the ancient kings were guarded by the spirits of the dead slaves who have been decapitated. They have been bound to watch over the treasure and not let anyone disturb it. However, the only way to banish these ‘bahirawaya’ was to sacrifice a living animal  to them. The method similarly was decapitation.

Imagine this eerie scene in the jungle far away from humans and civilization among the beating of drums and the somnambulistic chanting of ritual , as well as the struggling and blood of the  frightened sacrificial animals

After many hours of ritual,  Seetha allowed the scrolls guide her to the treasure and with the help of everyone who participated, the treasure was unearthed. The sight of the ancient gems and jewels of the ancient Sinhala kings and queens in the antique  pot of treasure made the greed in everyone exceed its limits. More so in the gypsy. In her mind, now that they finally located  the treasure, all of it belonged to her, since if it weren’t for her, they would never have found it in the first place. 

In her mind stirred the first evil voices of a murderer , small but impossible to ignore – she wanted somehow to get rid of the Kattadiya and his son,  if it meant murder. She had to find a way. The voices in her head seemed to be telling her things….

 (to be continued next week)

Some say ‘Greed is never without consequence’. After reading this story, you too may agree.

The discovery of the treasure meant a great deal to the sorcerous. She wanted it all.  Her colleague who had helped her get at the treasure, was in her way. She had to get rid of him and leave no witnesses. Somehow.

She did not wish to get caught up in such a way that her long term plan was spoilt. So she had to be cunning in her attempt at murder.  Her first thoughts went into killing them out right. But that would stir up too much attention and might even land her in prison. No. it had to be more subtle and crafty.

Her next alternative was to make it look like food poisoning. In her profession she had been accustomed with many herbs to cure the sick and in turn, make healthy people sick. she even had dried powder of mushrooms which caused hallucinations and symptoms similar to food poisoning. She used her knowledge of herbs and cooking to  literally cook up the demise of the kattadiya and his son.

The unfortunate associates had no idea of this insidious plan until it was too late for them. They were rushed to the local medicine man , but it was too late; they were in a state of coma and could not speak. The gypsy’s story was quite undoubted by the police and the onlookers. She explained to them how they had travelled with  her after an exorcism and eaten from a shop, and  how they had been exposed to some kind of food poisoning. She had made sure that she too was  somewhat sick, not fatally of course, in order to make sure that everyone believed her.

As fate had it, the police caught up with the woman’s trick. that there was something suspicious about this whole affair and they dug deeper. Things begin to slowly come into light once the assistant of the gypsy woman could take the guilt no longer. He was not involved the with the murder but his guilty conscious had gotten the best of him and he confessed to the police about the whole operation with the hidden treasure.

They put one and one together and figured  things out. They quickly snapped into action and raided the house. After a thorough search they found the treasure buried in the backyard of the gypsy. The treasure was confiscated by the police and she saw it no more. She was taken into custody on suspicion of murder.

Time passed by and the hype of the ordeal passed. it was during this time that the village folk began to notice the figures of two men, one an elderly man and one of a younger man walking to and fro in front of the gyspies house.  The men were sometimes seen carrying a coffin  between the two of them. On other occasions they were seen walking with some sort of unknown purpose.

People who saw them say that they were silhouettes and that they did not seem “solid”. At one time, the two men had walked up towards a wood cutter on his way home, and as soon as they got near him, just disappeared without a trace. In a village where everyone knew everyone, these two figures certainly stood out. No one had been harmed in any way by these two figures but they were believed to be of the murdered father and son.

Epilogue

The Gypsy woman was confined in the town remand prison and then when she kept screaming and begging to be killed, crying that “the two men were walking with her own coffin”, the authorities decided that she was unsound of mind and dispatched her to the asylum.